


Ignis Bellator

by Mexicano27



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-28
Updated: 2012-11-28
Packaged: 2017-11-19 17:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mexicano27/pseuds/Mexicano27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would have happened if Naruto had argued against being put in Sasuke's team a little earlier and a little more fiercely? Iruka's decision of what to do will alter the very course of Konoha's history forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ignis Bellator

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically an "uncut" version of a story I posted back on FF in 2008. Due to FF's strict policy regarding graphic depictions of sex and violence, I decided to play it safe and keep the version on that website "safe for work," whereas this version will not be censored.

 

 

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 1: Forming Teams_

Iruka Umino had had a long day. Or at least, that's how it felt to him, even though it was perhaps midmorning at the latest. It was all Naruto's fault, as usual. And as usual, he did his best to stay out of the whole affair as much as he could. Today's "Naruto Catastrophe" had had something to do with him kissing someone, causing almost all of the girls in the class to gang up on him and beat him to a bloody pulp. Iruka had no idea what the hell that was about, but with his mind already heavily preoccupied, and seeing that Naruto wasn't seriously wounded, he had elected to simply stay at his desk and continue making sure that everything was in order.

Today was graduation day, and he double-checked the roll sheet to make sure all his students were in attendance; the address he'd be giving the class was of particular importance, and he was unwilling to start if anyone happened to be running late. Waiting a few minutes for things to settle down a bit probably wouldn't hurt, either. He _had_ spent the last month preparing for this day, after all, and he'd prefer it if he could get through it without any disruptions.

 _Just a few more hours_ , he thought with anticipation. _Just a few more hours, and I'm done. The school year'll be over and I get to enjoy a vacation from all of this._

It was hardly a secret that the time approaching an Academy class's graduation was stressful for both the students and the instructors alike. Though reaching this point had initially filled him with a sense of accomplishment, the sheer amount of work he had put in cobbling Genin teams together, reviewing grade sheets and test results and progress reports, comparing students, evaluating and reevaluating all the potential squads, had taken such a toll on him that he repeatedly found himself regretting his career choice.

Knowing that their new Jonin instructors would be putting them through unpredictable tests, getting all of the teams as balanced as possible in preparation for this had naturally been one of Iruka's highest priorities. Unfortunately, he had quickly discovered that creating ten perfectly balanced squads was simply impossible.

Traditionally, very few teams passed their Jonin's first test, and he had always wondered why; now, he had a pretty solid understanding of why things turned out this way. Despite all his efforts, by the time the final roster needed to be presented to the Hokage, only a handful of the teams were comprised of students that effectively complemented each other.

In the end, Iruka had found himself showing some favoritism towards certain students. He had to, in a sense: why would he put a child with poor motivation and lousy grades in a team with a very competent student? That team would likely end up failing, and the student with the potential would be held back from beginning their ninja career.

To him, Naruto was a prime example a student who had earned a shot at graduating. He may have had lousy grades, but he was clearly one of the most determined and motivated students in the entire class. In Iruka's opinion, he deserved as much as anyone to begin working as a Genin, and learn what it really meant to be a ninja.

Accordingly, Iruka had made certain to give him excellent squadmates, teaming him up with both Sakura, one of the most intelligent kunoichi in the class, and Sasuke, the most capable student in the class, dubbed by the instructors as the rookie of the year. Whatever trial their Jonin sensei had planned for them, Iruka was confident that they'd succeed in getting through it. He noted, with a slight sense of amusement, that the members of Squad 7 were all conveniently sitting right next to each other; with any luck, the three were already getting to know each other better.

Finally reaching the end of the roll call sheet, Iruka exhaled and reached up to rub his eyes. Seeing that everyone was present and accounted for, and that things had finally settled down from the previous uproar, he took a breath and moved to stand up in front of the class. There was nothing he felt apprehensive about, really—all he had to do was tell them how things worked, announce the squads, then let them go—but the knowledge that he would technically be their instructor for only a few moments longer left him with a strange feeling.

Gazing at his assembled students for what would be the last time, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind and cleared his throat, gaining their attention before he began speaking.

"As of today, you are all ninjas," he began. "To get here you have faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only Genin, first-level ninjas. All the Genin will be grouped into three-man squads. Each squad will be led by a Jonin, an elite ninja."

The entire class seemed to be in shock, which confused Iruka. He had figured that the vast majority of the students would have already known this. Resisting the urge to shrug, he continued, looking down at the roster in his hands to begin announcing the teams.

Beginning, naturally, with Team 1 and proceeding down the list, he would occasionally hear sighs and groans of disappointment, as the students found themselves separated from their friends and organized into teams with people they weren't familiar with. Ignoring them, he continued rattling off the names and eventually got to Team 7.

"Team Seven," he announced. "Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno—" He was interrupted by a loud cheer from Naruto, who had stood up and lifted his arms over his head in elation. Evidently, he wasn't shy about showing everyone just who he had a crush on; from what Iruka had seen over the past few years, most of the girls in the class were the same way. Sakura, for her part, was clearly not happy with this arrangement: she wailed and hung her head in disappointment.

Unsurprising, considering who the object of her affections was. Perhaps the next name on the list would get her to cheer up?

"Sasuke Uchiha," he finished, nearly smiling as he said it. In an instant, Naruto's and Sakura's moods made a complete reversal. Her eyes lit with joy, Sakura now let out an elated cheer of her own, raising her arms towards the ceiling in celebration.

Like Sakura a moment earlier, Naruto was less than happy about the name of his new teammate. However, instead of hanging his head in disappointment, he had jumped to his feet in rage.

"Iruka-sensei, _no_!" he bellowed angrily, causing the class to stare at him in shock. "Don't put me in the same team as that jerk!" Iruka was surprised at Naruto's rudeness, but recovered quickly, adopting a stern expression as he narrowed his eyes.

"You were put in the same team as Sasuke because the teams are meant to be balanced, Naruto," he explained. "Sasuke is the most talented ninja in the class. You, on the other hand, have the worst grades in the entire class." The class erupted into laughter, but Naruto was unfazed.

"I don't care! Sasuke sucks! Put me in a team with someone else, anyone else, _please_!"

Disappointed—but not really surprised—by Naruto's nerve, Iruka rapidly felt his temper flaring up. He'd hoped to get through this without any problems, but evidently Naruto was determined to be as much of a pain as he could. After Iruka had gone out of his way to give him the best team possible, this was the thanks he got?

"Naruto…" he growled, hoping he could intimidate the boy into sitting down before he had to start shouting at him. It didn't work.

"I'm not working with him!" Naruto insisted. "He's an asshole and an idiot! He'd do nothing but hold me back!"

By now, most of the class had recovered from their surprise at his outburst, with many of them murmuring amongst themselves. Sakura, however, flung herself at Naruto in blind rage, preventing him from continuing his rant; the two tumbled to the floor and she wrapped her fingers around his throat, throttling him as she snarled curses at him—judging by the way several of the nearby students gasped, the things she was saying must've been quite nasty. Struggling against her grip, Naruto wheezed and gasped as his face began to take on a bluish hue.

Just as before, Sasuke appeared unphased by the sudden outburst of violence right next to him, and merely sent his two teammates a glare before returning his attention to the front of the classroom.

As Sakura continued her assault, Iruka eyed her with alarm; Sasuke's popularity among the girls was common knowledge, but to inspire _this_ sort of behavior was concerning, to say the least. Drawing a breath, he was about to tell Sakura to knock it off when another student suddenly spoke up and interrupted him.

"I think that Naruto has a point, Iruka-sensei," Ino Yamanaka said sweetly. "Sasuke doesn't belong in the same team as those two. Why don't you put him in, ummm…you know, someone else's team?" She then flashed Iruka a huge grin, leaving no doubt as to whose team she thought Sasuke should be in. At this, Sakura released Naruto and quickly returned to her feet, a desperate look on her face as she gave Iruka an appeal of her own.

"No sensei, we'll make a perfect team! I mean, I'd be good in a team with Sasuke! Put Naruto in another team, not Sasuke!"

This seemed to be the final straw. Almost immediately, the entire class erupted into a giant uproar, with students clamoring about how they didn't like someone in their set teams and wanted them switched out for someone they liked better; he couldn't help but notice that every single female voice he heard was begging for Sasuke to be organized into their team.

Dumbfounded, Iruka nearly took a step backward in surprise as he looked around the classroom with a shocked expression on his face. Everyone had been stirred into a near riot, and he had his favorite student to thank for it. _Goddamn it, Naruto!_

"Stop it!" he demanded the class, raising his voice and glaring at them. "Listen to me! Stop it!" However, no one seemed to be able to hear him.

Naruto had torn his headband off at this point, and had by all appearances stomped on it several times in an outburst of rage; Sakura looked furious and was tearing at her pink hair in a fit. Both of them were screaming something at him, but he couldn't possibly make out any of it. Out of the entire classroom, Iruka saw a mere four students who weren't trying to get their teams changed, or, if their teams had yet to be chosen, trying to tell Iruka exactly who they wanted in their team. The Hyuga girl sat quietly at her corner, and the Aburame boy was behaving in a similar fashion, looking devoid of all emotion. Sasuke still had his hands folded in front of him, and he glared at anyone in his line of sight. In the row above him, Shikamaru Nara was also uninterested by all the commotion…he had fallen asleep.

The rest of the classroom continued shouting and screaming, growing louder and angrier with each passing moment; Iruka had a feeling that it wouldn't be much longer before they started throwing things and hitting each other.

" _Everyone shut up_!" he roared furiously. The class immediately quieted down, but Iruka knew that that wouldn't last much longer. He needed to make a decision, and he needed to make one right away. Otherwise, someone (undoubtedly Naruto) would pipe up and set everyone off all over again. Knowing that he probably only had a few seconds, he looked down at his list quickly and desperately.

It was painful to admit to himself, but it was clear now that he'd been wrong about Team 7. If Naruto was acting like this just from being put in the same team as Sasuke, then how on earth would he act when he was forced to actually work with him? Would they even stand a chance at passing their Jonin's test?

No, Sasuke and Sakura might have had some of the best grades in the class, but he could see that there was simply no way—no chance at all—that those three would be able to get along and cooperate well enough to accomplish anything. Naruto clearly took his silly one-sided rivalry with Sasuke too seriously, and from what he'd just seen, it was certain that Sakura wasn't going to be mediating the situation. If Iruka left things the way they were, there was a good chance that their Jonin would just flunk all three of them without even bothering to test them.

_Have to do something, have to change something, but who…?_

Skipping past Naruto's squad, he looked down at Team 8 and glanced at the very first name. Frustrated and desperate to resolve the situation, he made his decision, and didn't even bother to think of the consequences that could happen from switching the two students.

"Team Seven!" he yelled out angrily, starting over from the beginning as he lowered the paper and glared up at his students. "Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Hinata Hyuga! That is Team Seven!"

Upon hearing this proclamation, Naruto's face split into a wide grin and he pumped his fist enthusiastically; however, the reactions of his new teammates were quite different. The Hyuga girl's eyes widened, the color appearing to drain from her face as her mouth hung open. She began to stammer, apparently about to say something, but she was interrupted by Sakura's shriek.

"Iruka-sensei, _no_!" she screamed, looking as though she were on the verge of tears. Iruka didn't care.

"Shut up!" he yelled at her. "If anyone has any problems with their team, hand me your headband now!" Sakura planted herself down in her seat and said nothing more, but began sobbing.

"Team Eight," Iruka continued with a growl. "Sasuke Uchiha. Kiba Inuzuka. Shino Aburame." None of them seemed to have any problems with their team, but Ino suddenly squawked.

"Iruka-sensei!" she said, bristling with indignation. "I thought that—"

"Well I guess you thought wrong," he snapped at her. "If you're so unhappy with the situation, you can always just quit. Is that what you want?"

Resting her cheek on her hand, she visibly rolled her eyes and sighed. "No," she answered, her voice dripping with contempt.

"Good," he said, choosing to ignore her tone and move on. He got past Team 9 with no problems; when he put Ino in the same team as Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, she groaned out loud, but otherwise made no protest. Iruka couldn't even tell if Shikamaru had been awake to hear his new team.

Having finally reached the end of the list, Iruka crumpled the piece of paper in his hand and looked out at his students for several seconds, as if daring someone to challenge his decisions. Despite virtually everyone in the class being unhappy about their teams, they all stuck to muttering and grumbling, and no one had the nerve to try shouting at him again.

Letting out a grunt, he took a moment to collect himself before speaking up again.

"After lunch, you'll meet your new Jonin teachers," he said, his voice calmer than before. "Until then, class dismissed." With a wave of his hand, he motioned towards the door and fell silent. Had things gone a bit better, he probably would have said a little bit more, to wish them luck or encourage them to do their best or something similar; he hadn't prepared any sort of speech, but he was sure he could've thought of something. Now, though, he just wanted them all to get out of his classroom as quickly as possible.

The students grumpily rose from their seats and filed out the door, almost all of them muttering complaints or sending glares in his direction when they passed by him. Naruto, however, stood out as being the only person clearly happy with his team, a huge grin on his face as he strutted out the door. The sight caused Iruka's temper to quickly flare up again.

 _Well at least_ he's _happy_ , he thought angrily, staring at Naruto's back until he disappeared from view. _I try doing something good for the kid, and he thanks me by yelling at me and getting the entire class rioting. All that work I did, and it turns out I shouldn't have even bothered…_

With the class now emptied, he got back to his desk and collapsed into his seat, sighing loudly and placing a hand over his eyes. Now that all the excitement was over and done with, he found himself wondering if he'd reacted appropriately.

He'd never lost control of his class as completely as he had just now, and he had no idea how he ought to have handled it. He had acted decisively, sure, but had he acted intelligently? Would it have been better if he'd ignored Naruto's behavior and forced him to accept his new team?

There were numerous reasons he'd chosen Sakura and Sasuke to be Naruto's teammates; it wasn't merely so that the squad would pass, but also because he'd hoped Naruto could learn from them. Sakura, with her impeccable test results, and Sasuke, with his precocious combat skills, had both seemed like they'd be very positive influences for Naruto. On paper, everything had looked fantastic. Now…not so much.

Now, Team 7 didn't have the prodigous Uchiha. Could Hinata possibly fill the gap that he'd created when he'd removed Sasuke?

 _She…might_ , he thought to himself. After all, she _did_ come from a prestigious clan and possessed a highly-coveted bloodline limit. As such, she came with advantages that other students would simply never have.

Unfortunately, in spite of her heritage, and all the private training she received, Hinata made for a rather mediocre fighter; though her use of Gentle Fist gave her an edge over students who only had the most basic taijutsu training, she clearly had trouble with the style, and her handling of weapons was notably clumsy.

Overall, she made a competent shinobi and had passed the graduation exam with no difficulty, but no, she had not passed with flying colors the way Sasuke had.

Sighing, Iruka frowned and shook his head regretfully. Hinata simply didn't bring Team 7 the same benefits that Sasuke would have. No one else in the entire class could.

 _Why do you have to be so stubborn, Naruto?_ he wondered moodily. _Why?_ He felt tempted to pound a fist onto his desk, but he refrained. Choosing instead to run his hand through his hair a few times, he could do nothing to prevent the anxiety from slowly building in his gut. Squad 7 was undeniably a weaker team after the change, and there was simply no getting around that fact. Whatever tests the Jonin instructors were planning, Iruka was certain that Sakura and Sasuke could have helped Naruto pass any of them. But Sakura and Hinata?

 _They could_ , he tried to reassure himself. _They might. Maybe. Hopefully._ The words repeated in his head over and over until they sounded like nothing more than gibberish.

Having utterly failed to convince himself, he pressed the palms of his hands over his eyes, leaning back in his seat and letting out a groan. He'd done everything he could for Naruto, but now things were simply no longer under his control anymore. Naruto was just going to have to make it work. _He wanted anyone but Sasuke, and that's exactly what he got_ , he thought to himself. _If he wants to throw a fit like a child, he's just going to have to live with the consequences. If he ends up failing, then that's on him, not me._

He wasn't wrong. He was sure he wasn't wrong. Unfortunately, that did nothing to ease his mind about things. While it was true that his responsibilities only went so far, he knew that if Team 7 didn't pass, he'd feel terrible about it and would regret the decision he'd just made for a very long time.

Twirling a pencil between his fingers, Iruka realized with dismay that it might be a couple of days before all the Genin had their final tests. _Two whole days, wondering if he'll make it or not_ , he contemplated with a grimace. _And until then, all I can do is hope and pray they pass…_ _If I make it through the week without developing an ulcer, it'll be amazing._

Sitting in silent contemplation for a few more moments, he grunted and shook his head. He got up from his desk and headed for the exit; he had a feeling that the longer he sat still, the worse he'd feel, and he hoped that a breath of fresh air would help him calm his nerves.

Stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him, he wasted no time in heading for the nearest exit; he wasn't sure if he would head straight home or what he would end up doing, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to stand hanging around the Academy any longer.

The school year was over and his job may have been done, but he feared that it would be a considerable length of time before he'd be able to feel any sense of resolution.

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Quote of the Day:

"It is not true that life is one damn thing after another—it is one damn thing over and over."

\- Edna St. Vincent Milay


End file.
